Essay On Ernest Hemingway And A Farewell To Arms

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Recommended: Hemingway's use of symbolism in Farewell to Arms

Mohamad Abikenari
Ms.Sedghi
EL 4
Period: 2, 3
May 16, 2014
Hemingway, War and A Farewell to Arms

Hemingway’s childhood and teenage years prompted him to enlist in the army and to go to World War I. His experience in World War I inspired him to write A Farewell to Arms, which depicts the real-life experience of the dangerous adventure of an ambulance driver who falls in love with the beauty of a woman who is a nurse during the war. Hemingway’s style of writing attracted millions of readers to purchase A Farewell to Arms. His ability of mixing fact and fiction made his works more unique and fascinating. His masterpiece became a symbol of hard life during war and it remains as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Ernest was a quiet and thoughtful child who had interests in fishing and writing. He played soldier games, and when they asked him what he was afraid of, he exclaimed, ‘’ Afraid of nothing’’ (Yannuzzi 14). During the next seventeen years, Ernest spent his summers at Windermere, where he was able to take fishing lessons, play games and be with his friends. When he turned sixteen, he started writing short stories, but they weren’t much of a success. Ernest was a disappointment to his family, because he didn’t want to go to college and wanted to be independent. His independence from his family made him stronger.
Hemingway wanted to enlist in the army and become a successful writer but he had no definite plans. He asked his older brother Tyler in Kansas City to find him a job. Tyler Hemingway knew one of the Kansas City newspapers editors, so Ernest got offered a job in Kansas City newspaper. Ernest Hemingway was a quick learner and a s...

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...ot necessarily happen in life. You have the power to change the outcomes and that’s what Hemingway did in A Farewell to Arms. In his real life he did not see the Agnes von Kurowsky anymore and his love ended but in the book, he changed the story the way he imagined himself with her. He escaped from the reality of his life which was without Agnes von Kurowsky, by writing what he wanted his life to be. Hemingway demonstrated in his book, that death ends your life before you get the chance to live it. You cannot escape from the reality because it will find you and it will break you. ‘’You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you off the base they killed you. They killed you in the end. You could count on that. Stay around and they would kill you.( Hemingway 156).

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